Defense Department "Strategic Sourcing" Won't Freeze Out Small Businesses -- Lee The Defense Department will focus on “strategic sourcing” in procurement of services, but does not intend to consolidate contracts or reduce the number of vendors, said Deidre Lee, director of defense procurement and acquisition policy. While strategic sourcing in private industry usually means buying in volume from fewer vendors, Lee said, “We don’t want to go there. We want maximum participation of small businesses so a spectrum of people will have the opportunity to earn government dollars.” She spoke April 1 at Federal Sources Inc.’s annual outlook conference at Tysons Corner, VA. Lee said the department plans strategic sourcing pilots in the areas of administrative services and various advisory services, possibly beginning in the fall. She said the first step is a spend analysis: “We’re going to find out how we’re spending our money” on services. Then DOD will work to streamline and standardize its financial systems across the armed forces. DOD’s version of strategic sourcing will involve “a centralized business arrangement with decentralized ordering,” she said. In an interview after her presentation, Lee told Set-Aside Alert, “If we do it right, it will help small business.” Instead of 25 contracts and 25 different ways the send the bill, she said, vendors would have to deal with just one financial system. She repeated, “We are not going down the path where we have (only) two providers.”